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> as for some reason it has become overly political and "suits-oriented" I believe the reason for this is that everything is political these days. Until Obama, tech companies were not politically relevant (Microsoft and Google as exceptions). Now, social media giants are in worldwide fights including summoning tech execs before parliaments over being abused for propaganda, and even the netiquettes are political now given that a huge number of those who violate them are right-wingers who then in turn whine about "free speech" and "censorship". Also, the new generation of HN-relevant startups (think Uber, AirBnB, Lyft as the worst offenders) made a point of intentionally breaking laws to make a business at the cost of society. Of coure, politicians now take a close look at how companies backed by seemingly infinite cash reserves negatively affect their communities, and affected people also make their voice heard. Finally, companies these days are more or less forced by social media pressure to take a stand on highly contested political topics. The most recent examples of this are (internationally) the Gillette ads and (nationally/Germany) a couple adbusters that put up fake Coca-Cola banners warning of our right-wing AfD, with Coca-Cola's communication director tweeting "Not every fake has to be wrong". Mostly those putting up the pressure are on the left-liberal spectrum and the haters right-wingers. In addition the role of systemic racism, sexism and transphobia in the tech and media world, as well as (finally) people speaking up e.g. about sexual assault, got dragged onto the spotlight by #metoo and other viral campaigns. And of course these debates now also happen on HN - with the difference here that many people are socially liberal, but follow ultra-capitalist economic viewpoints. This makes, in my opinion, political HN debates largely centered around the (negative) effects of SV-style capitalism while there are not many socially conservative or, worse, alt-right trolls on HN. edit: another thing is, much of the tech scene didn't care much about politics or how their work would be used either. Only now, with employees taking responsibility for what their code does and who uses it and what ethical concerns they have with company policy, massive debates emerge. This includes stuff like Google employees protesting against working for the military, helping censorship in China or how employers react to sexual assault allegations. These debates naturally also leak over to HN, seeing how many employees for FAANG are on this platform. |